Practice

Still more practice getting a little better. I realised that this is a very interesting game; it’s much harder than snooker. To get any break at all takes very exact skill and there is just no luck involved. The use of side is vital to the game and the table makes quite a difference.

I have decided to give up snooker till after the police championship. Borrowed a cue from Colin off the snooker team, it is a one piece ash, seems a little lighter than my cue. Managed to get 33 mainly from in-offs and cannons, quite happy with that. Next time I will try to improve my positional play. I realise my cue action needs to change for this sport but not really sure what to do. I always was a good club player at snooker but this needs a fairly relaxed grip.

Half Ball

Went for a practice and have finally started to get this game going. It is not as easy as I thought, the half ball shot is vital for both the in off (sorry should call it a loser) and the cannon. Once you manage to line up the shot correctly it becomes fairly easy to get these shots regularly and with a fair degree of certainty.


Managed to hit 6/10 losers from the ‘D’ off the yellow on the centre spot. Got 7/10 losers in the middle bag found it hard to control the red so I get another shot but its progress.

www.englishbilliards.org

Found a nice web site today all about the EABA seems that Billiard is still alive and kicking and there are several leagues around but not in Manchester. The North East and Norfolk seem the best.

Found a nice site called www.englishbilliards.org run by a chap called Martin Goodwill very interesting site. Finally found out some examples of shots and practice routines. Started to work through the web site and found the half ball shot. This is where I have been going wrong. Printed off a few examples and watched most of the videos. Don’t think I will every reach the dizzy heights of these guys but I hope to be able to make regular 40-50 breaks, if my eyes hold out.

First Steps

It’s quite hard to actually go in-off and yet when you play snooker it seems very easy. I had another session of practice but everything seemed too got wrong. I must be doing something quite wrong, just found some video of Peter Gillcrest on the internet playing billiards in Asia. He seems to have not problems at all; I think the secret is to keep the balls close together. He also seems to make the in-off look so easy. I made a 26 break today scored 18 points off the Red and 3 in-offs. Looking at the internet it is clear the secret is to never pot the opponent’s ball.

Retired Billiards

Press ganged into playing Billiards for the police at the National Championship in Norfolk starting the 5th May 2009. This leaves me with 3 months to learn the game. Apparently the standard last year was very good with several 50 breaks. I was about 8 or 9 the last time I played billiards at Barrow in Chester. I know my dad was a good player I will seek his advice.

Start of February got my cue out and decided to go and practice for a few hours in the club. Not really sure of the rules but managed to download some off the web. Two points for a loser? Not really sure what this means I presumed a foul shot. Found it possible to make 15-20 breaks potting the red alone. I wish my eyesight was still the same really struggling to get to grips with my new snooker glasses. They are not so bad for long distance but close up they are very poor. When the white is tucked up against the cushion I really am struggling as my eyes can’t change focus from the object ball to the cue ball.